What is PLAY?

What is PLAY? 

What first comes to mind when you think of play?  A lot of folks would say children, video games, sports, or maybe chess.  A quick internet search for ‘what is play’ gives us results that mostly focus on children: “the work of children”, “how children learn”, and “the universal language of children”.  Sure, these are right, but what about adults?  

Somewhere around middle school, high school, and young adulthood, we start to view play as something little kids do, something wasteful, something unnecessary.  There is so much to DO, people to care for, something to clean, work to complete, appointments to reschedule, groceries to buy, self-care, and on and on and on.  

Self-care has been a huge buzzword for at least a decade now.  What it means has shifted over the years.  Massages and spa days vs at-home skincare and having lots of plants vs consistent work-outs and journaling vs just brushing your teeth regularly and napping.  I’d like to present the idea of play as self-care.  But that’s difficult to do if we consider it only in regard to children.  I challenge you to open your mind and work to change this definition. 

My preferred definition of play is anything that is done for the sole purpose of the enjoyment of the activity.  It should be self-driven and intrinsically motivating - the goal shouldn’t be winning or impressing or achieving.  (Unless you are achieving flow, but that’s for another blog post).  Play is wholly personal to each individual.  You have to decide for yourself what play is.  As mentioned before, as adults, this is really difficult because we haven’t truly played in so long. Here’s some tips and ideas that I hope will help you define play for you.  

Play should bring joy AND engagement.  If the activity is too hard and we get frustrated, it’s probably not play.  Important to note, however, that an activity that is difficult can still be considered play if we find ourselves smiling when we mess up and trying again.  A personal example for me is when I’m playing golf or in-line skating (an activity I’m re-learning).  When I mess up a golf drive, I do not get excited about trying again, I just feel irritated.  When I waver or fall on in-line skates, I end up laughing and getting back up to try again.  Being engaged means being physically and/or mentally active and being focused but also present. If you are distracted easily during the activity, it’s probably not play. If you find yourself tuning/numbing out totally during the activity, it’s probably not play.  Let’s consider watching the clouds and identifying shapes/animals you see or watching a thunderstorm roll in.  The cloud animal activity engaging us mentally while watching the thunderstorm doesn’t involve any active participation from us.  Consider a Crossword puzzle vs Candy Crush or Sudoku vs scrolling TikTok.  

Also, consider making any activity “playful”. Rene Proyer’s definition of ‘playfulness’ is highly useful for adults: the ability to reframe any situation to be interesting, entertaining, or stimulating. Notice the lack of the word “fun”. Activities that aren’t necessarily “fun” can still be wildly beneficial, fulfilling, and satisfying (especially at work!)

Let’s speak to the concept of play being self-driven.  As we are re-learning to play as adults, we may need to seek out opportunities and explore with others to gain some direction and guidance to determine what brings us the most joy and engagement individually.  How can we do that?  We can turn to our communities.  In my town of Castle Rock, there are often events throughout the town at local parks that provide opportunities to play.  Buka Yoga has a monthly gathering that can sometimes include scavenger hunts, breath work, and yoga poses.  The Castle Rock Cruisers offer a monthly ride around town which focuses on local art or local breweries and more.  The Rec Center offers group hikes and more.  BoredLess will be offering a wide variety of events that focus on full-body play at playgrounds, game play (yard and board), artistic play, and non-traditional play to get adults engaged in joyful activity.  We’d love to have you join us when we get started.  Keep an eye on our events page and our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn) for updates on upcoming events.

You may still be saying, ok, but I still don’t know what play is for me.  Here’s a list of what play can be.  I’d love to hear more that I’ve overlooked!  (note: as you can see as you read through this list, there’s sort of a sliding scale of how self-directed and engaging each activity can be).

Cos-play

Video Games

Improv

Cycling

Swinging

Hopscotch

Sketching

Yoga

Skateboarding

Making daisy chains at the park

Golf

3D Printing

Creating outfits

Cross-stitch

Painting

Creating a spreadsheet or power point presentation

Hiking

Playing an instrument

Swimming

Lying in the grass finding shapes in the clouds

Skiing/Snowboarding

Geo-caching

Sliding

Story writing

Singing

Tabletop Games (Jenga, Scrabble, Catan, Chess, etc)

Sculpting

Jigsaw Puzzles

Creating graphics in Canva

Sudoku, Crossword puzzles, Wordle, logic puzzles, etc

Cocktail creation

Disc Golf

Enjoying live music with friends

Splashing in natural water features

Gardening

Frisbee

Rollerskating

Designing something new

DJ-ing

Reading (not for work or school)

Rolling down a hill

Dungeons and Dragons

Making grass whistles

baking/cooking (something new, out of routine)

Jumping on a trampoline

Consensual coitus

Coloring

Podcasting

Kayaking

Taking apart electronics (and maybe putting them back together?)

Macrame

Earthing

Flying a Kite

Happy Hour with loved ones

Fidget toys

Pottery 

Photography

Surfing

Rearrange furniture in a room

Juggling

Mudding

Doing cartwheels and back flips

Chalk drawing

Water Slides

Creating, telling, and figuring out puns, word plays, and riddles

Woodworking

Riding a roller coaster

Go fishing

Hula hooping

Play-doh

Explore a new part of town

Try a new hairstyle

Graphic Design

Team building game (Seven Letters, How’s Yours, Fizz Buzz, etc)

Take a silly walk (h/t Monty Python)

Shoot a nerf gun (or a real gun if it’s legal for you!)

Building with LEGO bricks or other construction based products

Boogie boarding

Laser Tag

White Water Rafting

Antiquing

Playing with funny/silly social media filters

Throwing a ball or frisbee with a dog

Yard games (corn hole, ladder golf, spikeball, canjam, etc)

Sing karaoke

Coding

Skeeball

Rock climbing

Sticker books

Putt-putt

Stand up paddle-boarding

Dancing

Participate in trivia

Pinball 

Off-roading

Building a sandcastle

Making a comic-book

Science Experiments

Playground games (4-square, tetherball, handball, tag, hide & seek, marco polo, etc)

Boating

Going on a picnic

Recreational traditional sports (baseball, basketball, football, volleyball, racing, boxing, wrestling, soccer, fencing, kickball, etc) can be forms of true ‘play’ in our definition above if they aren’t competitive.